Most popular heroes of The International 2018 Group Stage

Most popular heroes of the tournament

The group stage of The International 2018 came to an end: the teams were seeded into either upper or lower brackets, and 2 teams had to leave Vancouver before the main event. We decided to analyze another important part of the competition - the hero picks and bans.

Which heroes were the most popular among the participants of The International 2018, and which, on the contrary, had to spend the entire time banned? Let's take a closer look.

Dark Willow

One of the last two released heroes became the fifth most popular among the participants of The International 2018. So, this hero was picked 54 times, but the teams did not always win with DW on their side. The win rate of the hero is 53.7%, which indicates its balanced state on the pro scene. 

It is worth noting that the last three patches in Dota 2 buffedDark Willow: it is especially relevant for Bramble Maze, which got the reduced cooldown first and later had its damage increased.

As for the use directly in the group stage of the championship, the hero stuck to its regular role. Most often the teams simply took Dark Willow as a position 4 support, much less often - 5.

Wraith King

Wraith King seemed to get a second life at The International 2018: this hero was picked whopping 55 times! However, he enjoyed his fair share of bans too - 47. However, it is noteworthy that given the pick rate, the win rate is less than half - 49.09%.

As well as Dark Willow, the hero has undergone significant changes in the last three patches. And the most they touched not the hero himself, but the skeletons he summoned, which now have a huge magic resistance - 50%.

Wraith King himself, at the same time, turned out to be an extremely versatile hero: in spite of the fact that in most cases he'd be played in the offlane, he is also a good carry. However, some teams had different plans, as they used Wraith King as a position 5 support.

Tiny

Tiny is the third most picked hero: the teams picked him 60 times, while the bans were just as generous - 73 times! But with all these outstanding numbers, only this hero has quite a low win rate - 41.67%.

A fun fact: Tiny also was significantly buffed in each of the last three patches of the game (although, he was nerfed quite heavily before). So, now Tree Grab (and correspondingly, Tree Throw) look to be very strong, given the damage increase. Most likely, after the tournament, this hero will take a break from the professional scene for a while.

Tiny is even more versatile than Wraith King in terms of roles played. So, the hero was seen as the position 4 support (which happened rarely), offlane, carry and mid. But it was in the last role that the hero shone the brightest for all to remember.

Mirana

Mirana is on the second place, outscoring Tiny only by 1 pick - this hero has been chosen 61 times. Not so many bans, though - 51 times. But if we talk about Mirana, first of all we should note an extremely high win rate - 62.30%! For a tournament of this level, this figure is simply huge.

Unlike the three heroes mentioned above, Mirana did not receive buffs in the last patches; on the contrary: her talents in 7.17 and 7.18 were slightly nerfed. Only Leap a fairly good buff in version 7.16, where the attack speed buff was changed from 40/60/80/100 to 60/80/100/120.

Her role on the battlefield is quite standard: Mirana is equally useful when played mid, and when she takes the offlane. The only exception, when the hero was picked as a support, became Jabz from the team Mineski.

Vengeful Spirit

Absolute record holder of the group stage of the tournament, taken 69 times and banned just 21 times. The win rate of the hero is almost a precise half - 50.72%.

In the last three patches, two abilities of the hero were significantly buffed: Magic Missile and Wave of Terror. At the first, they reduced the cooldown and the manacost, while the second one got increased damage at the early levels, also reducing the manacost. It is worth adding that the health regeneration has been slightly increased as well- from 1.5 to 1.75.

Despite the fact that earlier this hero was taken as a core, the participants of The International 2018 have given Vengeful Spirit a very small choice - position 4 or 5. However, perhaps, VGJ.Storm (where Ilya "Illidan"Pivtsaev, who loved to play core Venge, is acting as a coach) will still surprise us in the playoffs!

Most Frequent Bans

Let's finish the analysis with some popular heroes on the other end of the spectrum: they were banned way too often! Silencer is the first one here: a very annoying hero, who nevertheless showed himself on the best side in the support position 41 times. But the bans hit him twice as much - 85 times.

Weaver is ahead of him by just 1 ban, but still managed to sneak his way into the games 51 times as a core, offlane and even support. However, he was banned more often - 86 times. The third position is taken byNecrophos: he was banned 96 times, although, again, the players picked him 42 times.

The first two places, in turn, are occupied by heroes who have been banned more than 100 times (the total number of maps is 148)! The first of them - Io with 107 bans, the second - Enchantress, who was banned 118 times! It is noteworthy that the second hero, at the moment, is present in 97% of matches as a pick or ban, being, thus, the most popular hero of the group stage of the tournament.

What do you think, which hero, according to the results of The International 2018, will be the most popular? Share your thoughts in the comments!